Luck Has a Way
by WhazzupPeeps
Summary: After a rough week of waiting tables at the Pirate Ship restaurant, Kelly's fortunes change one Friday afternoon thanks to the arrival of a handsome stranger. Will it also spell a change in attitude for the normally-mean Kelly? OC included.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is set shortly after the events of "Charging into the Night" in the show's timeline.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

Friday afternoon, quarter after four at the Pirate Ship dining lounge inside Surfer's Paradise resort. Up to that point, the work day at the restaurant had been a busy one for the on-duty waitressing team of head waitress Kelly and her subordinates Emma and Lo, typical for the start of the weekend at the hotel. Usually, Kelly, in a typical display of mean-spiritedness, would stick the junior staff working under her (particularly Emma and Lo) with having to serve some of the Pirate Ship's more difficult customers, including those regulars with rambunctious children (like the Marvin family), finicky customers and those who were poor tippers, while she kept the better customers for herself.

This time around though, such luck was few and far between for Kelly. While the Pirate Ship regularly bustled with activity that kept the wait staff busy, the past week had been unusually busy in the midst of the tourist season, and due to there being more of the difficult regulars with their usual demands and complaints, and less of the good customers coming around to eat that week, it was starting to take its toll on the dining room's senior server. _This past week's been such a pain in my butt, _Kelly thought to herself as she went off to post one order at the kitchen's pick-up window and wait for another order to arrive for delivery. _Now I know how Daddy's girl Lo and Emma the surfer wannabe feel about getting stuck with the crappy customers because it feels like there've been nothing __**but **__that type coming to the Ship this past week. I feel so stressed from the whole week between contending with out-of-control rugrats running around the Ship at will, customer complaints, lousy tippers and dealing with Lo and Emma's screwups with customer orders, I think I may explode!_

The final straw for Kelly came soon after as she was bringing an order of soup and salad to another customer, when Mark and Todd Marvin, the bratty sons of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin (who, as usual, were paying no attention to what their wild offspring were doing as they waited to place their orders), ran right through without paying attention to where they were going and knocked right into Kelly, causing her to lose her balance and to spill the soup and salad order all over a customer at another table nearby. After apologizing to the now-messy customer for spilling the soup and salad on him and directing him to the men's washroom to get cleaned up, then apologizing to the customer who had the soup and salad order and telling her that she would have a fresh order ready for her in a few minutes, Kelly caught up to the Marvin boys and, grabbing each of them by the backs of their shirts, marched them back to their parents' table. "Do you realize your kids just caused me to spill an order on one of my customers because you couldn't be bothered to keep an eye on them while they were running around?" Kelly said to Mr. and Mrs. Marvin in a hushed tone, her voice seething with simmering anger. "It's restaurant policy for customers with children to keep an eye on their kids at all times in the dining lounge for safety reasons!"

Mr. Marvin seemed not to notice how Kelly was feeling at this point. "Well, I don't remember reading anything about such a policy in here," he said non-chalantly. "Me and my family came here to relax and to eat, and we're still waiting to place our orders. Would you mind serving us now?"

"Management reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason - including refusing to keep unruly children under control," Kelly fumed, keeping her voice low but now almost at her breaking point. "Now take your kids and please _leave!_"

"Well, I never!" Mrs. Marvin said as she and her husband got up and took their kids to leave. "See if we ever patronize this restaurant again just for that!"

_If I never saw your faces in here again, that would be too soon for me, _Kelly thought to herself about the departing Marvins. Turning around and spotting Emma heading toward the pick-up window, she called her over to where the remnants of the soup and salad were on the floor and on one of the tables. "Hey, Surfer Girl! I need you over here!"

Wondering if she had done something wrong, Emma hustled over to the table where Kelly was. "Hey Kelly, uh...what's up?" she sheepishly asked her boss.

"I'm going on my break," Kelly said to Emma. "I need you to get a clean cloth for this table and to clean up the rest of this mess on the floor."

"Well, I was just on my way to get another order from the..." Emma began, but upon seeing the angry look on Kelly's face, she wisely chose not to finish that sentence. "Right, I'll go get that new tablecloth," she said as she gathered up the soiled tablecloth and hustled off to the hotel's laundry room to avoid getting ranked out.

After Emma left, Kelly started toward the kitchen, storming past Lo and almost cutting her off as the only daughter of the hotel's wealthy owner attempted to deliver a dinner order. Kelly cut through the kitchen and headed straight into the common locker room area which connected to it, then sat down on a bench in front of some of the lockers. Taking off the pirate hat and eyepatch that formed part of her work costume and putting them on the bench beside her, an overwhelmed Kelly, feeling her lower lip trembling as the events of the past work week flashed through her mind, buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

* * *

**Well, that's Chapter 1. I decided not only to make Kelly the main focus of this story, but also to put a bit of a twist in her, to make her appear more vulnerable (and this is only the beginning). No worries though, I've started her out mean like she normally is on the show, but stay tuned.**

**Meantime, tell me what you think so far of this tale.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

After she finished her crying spell a few minutes later, Kelly wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and touched up her makeup in the mirror on her locker door before she put her pirate hat and eyepatch back on and, getting her composure together, headed back out through the kitchen to finish out her dining room shift. _4:30 p.m. Another hour and a half and you're done for the week, Kelly, _she thought to herself as she walked past the kitchen staff at work at their stations. _You just have to keep it together and get yourself through this, then you've got the whole weekend to chillax._

As she passed by the pick-up window on her way to the swinging doors to the dining lounge area, though, Kelly spotted a new customer just arriving at the front cash register, waiting to be seated. She noticed right away that the customer, a young man appearing to be in his early twenties, was quite handsome and was casually well-dressed. Noticing that Lo spotted the handsome stranger and started to head toward him, Kelly dashed through the doors and went to intercept Lo before she could get to him.

"It's okay Princess, I've got this one," Kelly said to Lo as she steered the rich girl away. "You can serve that customer over there," she added, directing Lo toward a table where Mr. Grizzle, a curmudgeonly old hotel guest and a regular at the Pirate Ship, was waiting to be served. Lo did not look too happy to have to deal with the cantankerous Mr. Grizzle (especially after what she had heard about him from her friends Reef and Johnny), but she did as she was told.

Kelly then walked up to the handsome stranger and introduced herself, putting on a smile. "Hi, I'm Kelly, and I'll be your waitress tonight. Table for one?"

"Sure, that sounds good," said the customer.

"Would you like a table with a view of the hotel lobby?" Kelly asked the customer as she escorted him through the dining lounge. "It's a great spot for people-watching."

"I'd really like that, thank you," the customer said as he smiled at Kelly, seeming pleased about the service she gave him so far. Kelly noticed this and she smiled back at him. _Finally, I catch a break, _she thought to herself. _This is just what I needed._

"I'll give you a few minutes to decide on your order, sir," Kelly said to the customer after seating him at a table with the promised hotel lobby view and giving him a menu, then she went off to tend to a couple of orders. A few minutes later, she returned to the handsome stranger's table to inquire about his order. "Do you need another few minutes to decide, sir?" she asked.

"Nope, I'm all set," said the customer as he closed his menu. "I'll have the roast turkey breast with the side garden salad and steamed vegetables, and a mocha latte to drink, please."

"That's a good choice," Kelly said with a smile as she took the customer's menu, "and very healthy, too. I'll have it here for you in a few minutes." After the customer thanked her, Kelly went off to post his order and then continue her waitressing rounds.

* * *

After another few minutes passed, Kelly grabbed the tray with the customer's dinner order at the pick-up window and started toward his table when she stopped just short of colliding with Lo, who had to bring back Mr. Grizzle's dinner to the kitchen when he complained of it not being hot enough, and in her haste to get to the pick-up window, did not notice Kelly coming her way. Knowing that her customer was not far off and wanting to keep up a good appearance in his presence, Kelly minded her manners as she chastized Lo for her inattention. "Be more careful where you're going next time," she said to Lo, _sotto voce. _"Another step and there would've been two more spills to clean up here."

"Sorry," an apologetic Lo said, wondering to herself why Kelly was acting less like her normal nasty self than usual. "I'll pay better attention."

Letting Lo get back to work, Kelly then brought the dinner tray to the handsome stranger. "Here you are," she said to him as she gingerly placed the tray in front of him, "your roast turkey breast platter and mocha latte. Enjoy."

"I will," said the customer as he caught the aroma of the freshly-cooked roast turkey. "Thank you very much, Kelly," he added with another smile.

"You're welcome," Kelly said, returning the smile as she went back to work. A few minutes later, as she started to head back over to the customer to ask how his meal was, Kelly heard the familiar sound of rambunctious laughter coming from two particular children...then was caught by surprise as the Marvin boys ran right past her again, bumping into her in doing so and almost knocking her down again, then stopping at her customer's table as they dodged in and out from under the table while playing tag. Mark and Todd's hijinks quickly came to an end, though, when Kelly caught the two bratty boys and escorted them toward the door again.

"I thought I kicked the two of you out of here half an hour ago," Kelly said to the boys under her breath in a low, menacing tone as she steered them out of the Pirate Ship again. "Don't come back here again without your parents if you can't behave yourselves here!" After sending the Marvin boys away, Kelly then returned to the customer. "Sorry about that, sir," she apologized to him with a sigh. "If those kids were bugging you a moment ago, I apologize for that, but we want our customers to enjoy their meals in peace here without..."

"Oh, that's okay, no harm done here," said the customer with a chuckle. "Besides, you were doing your job. I really appreciate that."

"Thank you," Kelly responded before letting out another sigh, mainly due to exasperation from dealing with the Marvin brothers for the second time in a half-hour.

Sensing how Kelly was feeling, the customer smiled a little. "Stressful day at work?" he asked sympathetically.

"More like stressful _week_," Kelly admitted, softening somewhat as she glanced the young man's way. "It's _sooo_ not usually like this around here, but this past week's just been crazy." After a brief pause, she added, "So anyway, are you enjoying your meal?"

"It's delicious, thank you," the customer said. "And if it helps, Kelly, you've really been great with your service tonight. Hopefully next week'll be better for you here, and much less stressful."

Kelly smiled and giggled spontaneously as she felt an appreciation for her customer's words and the level of his politeness. "Thank you," she said to him. "After the week I've had, I think that's very meaningful."

* * *

Another few minutes went by before Kelly's customer finished his dinner and Kelly brought him his bill, then they went to the cash register to pay it off. "That'll be eighteen dollars total," Kelly said after tallying the bill.

"Here you go," the customer said as he presented Kelly a $20 bill as payment and got his change back. Reaching into his wallet again, he then gave something else to the Pirate Ship's head waitress, adding "...and this is for you." When Kelly took a look at what she received, she gasped with surprise as she beheld five $20 bills - a grand total of a $100 tip.

"Ohmigosh," said a stunned Kelly as she looked at the tip, then looked at the customer. "Are you really sure you want to give me this much for a tip?"

"I am," the customer replied with a nod. "It's okay, I really don't mind because I can afford it. Besides, I think you deserve it after the week you've been through."

Kelly's face slowly lit up with a smile. Although she had gotten used to dealing with the regular assortment of customers she served during her time waitressing at the Pirate Ship (ranging from average customers to the more difficult types), this time around, she felt honestly touched by the gesture of this particular customer and by how much of a gentleman he had been to her while she served him. "I don't know what to say," Kelly said to him, "other than thank you very much. That really means a lot, uh...I never did get your name, did I?"

"No, sorry," said the customer with a nervous laugh. "It's David."

"Oh, well, thank you again, David," Kelly said to him.

"You're welcome," David replied. "Actually," he added, "there was something that I wanted to ask you, if you don't mind me doing so."

"Sure, what is it?" Kelly said.

"Well," David began, "I was wondering what you're doing tonight after work, if you don't have any plans or you're not busy otherwise..."

_Ohmigosh, is he actually asking me out on a date?_ Kelly thought to herself, her eyes widening with delighted surprise. _Eeeee! I can't believe my luck,_ she thought excitedly, closing her eyes momentarily with her giddy mental squeal._ This is_ sooo_ great!_ "I get off work at six," she then replied without hesitation. "I'll need the next hour to eat and get ready, so can you pick me up in the hotel lobby at seven?"

"Sure," David said, much to Kelly's great delight. "It's a date, then."

"Perfect," Kelly said with a smile. "I'll see you then," she added as she waved to the departing David, who smiled and waved back. After another happy squeal to herself, she then carried on with the last hour of her shift in the dining lounge, feeling as though she were on cloud nine. During that time, Lo and Emma took notice of Kelly's apparent change in demeanor for the better, wondering between themselves if it had to do with the handsome customer their boss had been tending to over the last little while.

* * *

**So, Kelly's luck has already begun changing for the better by landing both a sweet tip _and_ a date with a customer. So far so good, but we'll see how well her date with David (my OC in the story) goes next chapter.**

**_Stoked _(c) Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon. I don't own the show or any of the characters except David.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

During the next hour after her dining room shift ended, Kelly's mind raced excitedly with thoughts about her upcoming date with David as she had a tuna salad dinner from the kitchen, then showered, brushed her teeth and dolled herself up in the common locker area. The dress she chose to wear for the date was the same dark magenta one with the spaghetti shoulder straps she had worn on her disastrous blind date with hotel day manager Andrew Baumer, set up by Lo and Emma with help from Reef and their friend Broseph to get them out of the way during a recent science-fiction convention at the hotel, not long ago.

Kelly had chosen to ask David to pick her up for the date in the hotel lobby because she did not want him to see the less-than-standard staff housing at which she was staying with most of the other hotel staff, separate from the main hotel complex. While Kelly kept her own room there as tidy as it could be kept under the circumstances, much of the rest of the housing was somewhat of a dump. She was also thankful to have a laptop computer with wireless Internet and a DVD-ROM drive available in her room when she needed it, for although the staff house had at least one TV set in the common living room, it was an old black-and-white set which was not hooked up for cable but instead used an old-fashioned "rabbit-ears" set-top antenna, meaning that the only channel available on the set was Sunset Island's local repeater of the CBC station in Vancouver, which made entertaining company at the staff house, at least for Kelly, somewhat awkward.

Kelly then put the finishing touches to her preparation with a couple of spritzes of her favorite perfume, _Summer Passion,_ then put on her high heels and grabbed her purse before she ventured out to the hotel lobby to wait for David to arrive. While waiting near the front desk, where Johnny was currently on duty, Kelly took out a vanity case from her purse and used its mirror to check her bob-cut dark red hair and touch up her lipstick when, while adjusting the case's position for another look at her hair in the mirror, she saw a familiar figure coming toward her from behind. She turned around and smiled as she saw David walking up to her.

"Wow, that's a great-looking dress you're wearing, Kelly," David said as he approached her. "And I like that necklace you have on, too," he added, noticing the necklace with the three deep blue crystals that Kelly usually wore. "You look really pretty tonight."

"_Aww_, thank you," said Kelly, who could feel her cheeks blushing as she giggled a bit. "Sorry if I didn't say so earlier back at the dining room, but I like your outfit too," she added, taking note of David's "smart casual" attire of off-white sport coat and trousers and navy blue dress shirt. Noticing that David appeared to be holding something behind his back, Kelly asked, "So, what do you have back there?"

Right then, David revealed his surprise to Kelly, a bouquet of a dozen red roses. "They're for you," he said. "Hope you like them."

Kelly's mouth opened with pleasant surprise upon receiving the roses. "Oh, these look beautiful", she remarked as she looked the bouquet over. "Thanks, David. I like red roses, so this makes a great start to our date." As she brought the roses closer to sniff them, however, Kelly got another unexpected - and unpleasant - surprise when a yellow jacket flew out from one of the flowers and landed on her nose. Caught by surprise by the appearance of the wasp, Kelly took a swing at it and began to scream as she tried swatting with the bouquet at the insect, which was now buzzing around her. Acting quickly and grabbing a magazine from the front desk, then rolling it up, David swung at the yellow jacket and successfully swatted it away.

"Holy cow, are you okay, Kelly?" David asked Kelly as he tried to calm her down, putting his hand on her right arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," a slightly shaken Kelly replied in between taking a few deep breaths. "Sorry to startle you like that, but I'm allergic to wasp stings. I was stung by one once when I was young and I had to get a shot for it at the hospital, so I've hated wasps ever since."

"I'm sorry to hear that," David said, "And I'm sorry about what just happened. I didn't even know that was in the bouquet right until it flew out onto your nose."

"That's okay, it's not your fault," Kelly said. Lifting up the bouquet again for another look, she then looked back at David and smiled a little. "So, all set to go?"

"I sure am," David replied. "Is heading into town tonight all right?"

"Sure, sounds good," Kelly said. "I just need to find something to put the roses into first." Taking a moment to walk over to where Johnny was checking guest registrations at the computer database, Kelly asked the front desk manager, "Johnny, is there anything around I can put these roses in while I go out?"

"I think there's a vase around somewhere I'll have to look for, but yeah, I can hang on to them for you," Johnny said as he took the roses, quickly locating a vase nearby and then filling it with water in a bathroom sink before returning to put the flowers in. "Is this okay for them?" he asked Kelly.

"That's good, thanks, Johnny," said Kelly as she went to rejoin David for her date with him. "I'll be back for them later."

Right after Kelly and David went on their way, Johnny took out his iPhone to conference call Emma and Lo and tell them the news about Kelly. "Hey, Lo, Emma," he said as soon as the girls answered. "Guess who's heading out on a date tonight?"

* * *

"Okay, dudes and dudettes, the Whalebus is on the move," said the Kahuna, the Whalebus shuttle service's driver and local Jack-of-all-trades around Surfer's Paradise and the nearby town of Sunset Beach, announced as the bus pulled away from the hotel, with Kelly and David on board along with a few other passengers, to head toward its destination. "Next stop, Sunset Beach and the Big Wave Theatre. Hope all you groovy cats like tonight's feature at the movies, _The Summer Vacay that Almost Wasn't_."

As the Whalebus made its way on the short trip into town, Kelly and David, who were sharing a seat, chatted with each other about themselves. "...anyway, I don't surf," Kelly said, "but I do like to swim and jet ski on my days off."

"Sounds cool," David replied. "I've never been jet skiing myself, but I'd sure like to give it a try sometime."

"Well, then if you're not busy tomorrow, I could take you jet skiing on the beach," Kelly said. "It's a lot of fun when you get the hang of it."

"Cool," David said. "I'm free tomorrow, so I'd love to join you, Kelly."

"Great," said Kelly with a smile, feeling elated about being able to land a second date with the handsome stranger she had met at the Pirate Ship less than three hours earlier. Wanting to get to know David better, she then said, "But enough about me, David. I'd like to get to know more about you."

"Well," David began, "I'm up here on vacation from Victoria. That's where I've lived all my life. You ever been there to visit?"

"Sure, I've been there a few times," Kelly answered. "It's a beautiful city, lots of nice shops and great coffee houses to hang out in around downtown."

"That's part of it, yeah," David said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I just got my undergrad degree in business from the University of Victoria not long ago."

"Wow, nice," said Kelly. "Have you decided what you want to do from there?"

"Thought about getting into entrepreneurship", David replied. "I've always wanted to own my own business. Since you're managing that restaurant back at the hotel, Kelly, have you thought about getting into doing restaurant management long-term?"

Before Kelly could answer that question, she and David, along with the Kahuna and the other passengers on the Whalebus, got a sudden and unexpected jolt when a loud pop was heard outside the bus and it started to lurch a bit, forcing Kahuna to pull the bus over to the side of the road not far outside of town. "Whoa, big problemo, folks," Kahuna said upon stopping the bus. "Looks like we got us a flat to fix."

As Kahuna got up to get out of the bus and retrieve the jack, lug wrench and spare tire, David asked him, "Hey, do you need a hand to get the tire changed? I've fixed flat tires before, so maybe I could help."

"Sure, why not?" Kahuna replied. "The more hands helping, the merrier."

Turning to Kelly, David then said, "You won't mind if I go help fix that flat, would you? The faster it's done, the sooner we'll make it to town for the movie."

"Well, okay," Kelly said. After David told her he would be right back and he went out to help Kahuna with the flat tire, Kelly then thought to herself, _Great, first I almost get stung by a yellow jacket, and now the bus gets a flat tire? What else could go wrong on this date tonight?_

_

* * *

_

**Whoa, not exactly the best way for Kelly to start off her date (just avoiding getting stung by a wasp flying out from her bouquet of roses), is it? Her date with David continues in the next chapter, and there'll be a couple of speed bumps along the way**** before things improve.**

**On another note, thanks to Invader Zara for the nomination for the inaugural _Stoked_ Fanfiction Awards. Great to see that there's something here to honor all the authors who've been creating all those great _Stoked_ stories and it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Once the flat tire on the Whalebus was fixed and the bus finally made it into Sunset Beach, Kelly and David arrived at the Big Wave Theatre, the town's tiny movie house where surfing-themed movies were the film genre most often played, to check out the surfing comedy _The Summer Vacay that Almost Wasn't._ After getting their drinks and a big tub of popcorn to share, the couple found seats on the auditorium's main level, halfway to the front and just past the small balcony.

A few minutes into the movie, David, making sure not to disturb customers around him and Kelly, whispered to her, "Do you come here sometime to see the movies?"

Kelly, who did not seem interested in the movie, answered in a whisper, "Most of the time, no, not really. Surfing flicks don't really interest me, and that's what they show here mostly. If I do come here, it's got to be a movie I'd actually like. Otherwise, I just rent DVDs and watch them back at the hotel staff house."

"Oh, yeah," David said with a grin. "The movie aside, being here's kind of a nice change for me from all the big theatres they have in Victoria. This one's small and quaint, but intimate, just the right atmosphere to lose yourself in a movie for a couple of hours."

Before long, Kelly and David found themselves enjoying the movie as they laughed along with the rest of the audience, while the couple also sometimes stole glances at each other and Kelly would smile and giggle as David looked her way to make eye contact. At one point during the movie, they even began holding hands, then Kelly leaned her head onto David's shoulder.

The blissful moment, however, was soon quickly disrupted for Kelly and David when a sudden shower of popcorn came down on their heads from the balcony. "_What the_...?" Kelly said abruptly as the popcorn came down and hit her and David, then she turned and looked up to the balcony and spotted and recognized two familiar faces-the fiendish grins of the Marvin boys, Todd and Mark, as they laughed maliciously at the success of their prank.

Getting up from her seat with some of the popcorn still in her hair, Kelly said to David, "Excuse me a minute," then started storming her way toward the lobby. _Ooohh, that is IT!,_ a fuming Kelly thought to herself on her way up the aisle to the lobby doors. _This time, those two little brats are toast!_

As Kelly passed through the doors to the lobby, the Kahuna, who had just come down from the projection room upstairs to man the snack bar, saw her walk by. "Hey chiquita, what's up?" he said to Kelly in greeting.

Hearing footsteps, two sets of them, coming down the stairs from the balcony, Kelly replied to Kahuna, "You'll find out in a moment." Staying just out of sight of the bottom of the stairway, Kelly waited until the footsteps got close enough, then she jumped out and surprised Todd and Mark. "Gotcha!" Kelly said to the two bratty brothers, then grabbed them by their shirts and marched them toward the snack bar.

"Hey, let go of us!" Todd said indignantly. "We didn't do anything wrong!"

"Yeah, this isn't the hotel either, Pirate Lady!" Mark added, recognizing Kelly from the Pirate Ship. "You can't do anything to us here!"

"We'll just see about that," Kelly replied, smirking at each of the Marvins.

As soon as Kelly brought the Marvin boys to the snack bar where Kahuna was, David came through the lobby doors to check up on his date and see what the commotion was, while at the same time, Mrs. Marvin came down from the balcony to see what happened with her boys. "What's going on here?" Mrs. Marvin demanded. The moment Kelly turned her head to look at her, Mrs. Marvin's eyes narrowed. "_You!_" the boys' mother said, recognizing Kelly right away. "I should've known!"

Turning back to Kahuna, Kelly reported, "These two little monsters dumped popcorn on me and my date's heads from up in the balcony. I've got the evidence in my hair to prove it," she added, pointing out some of the buttered popcorn kernels that were still in her hair and on her dress.

"You can't prove it was them!" said Mrs. Marvin, trying to cover for her rambunctious offspring.

"Yeah!" Mark and Todd joined in, trying to lie their way out of trouble.

"Actually, lil' hodads, I can," Kahuna responded in his usual laid-back style. "I got a view of the balcony from the projection room, and you two and your parental unit were the only ones I saw sitting in there. Sorry," he added, leaning back in his chair behind the snack bar, "but kooks hasslin' the audience during the movie ain't cool and it ain't something the Kahuna abides by. So like the umpire says in baseball, you cats are outta here," he finished, pointing his thumb toward the doors by the box office leading outside.

An indignant Mrs. Marvin took her boys with her and, as they started for the door, she said to Kahuna, "I'll be contacting this theatre's owner about this! I'll have your job for doing this to my boys!"

"Oh," Kahuna replied, "did I mention I also own this theatre?"

"And by the way," Kelly added as a parting shot to the Marvin family, "you, your kids and your husband are now banned from the hotel dining room. You want to eat at the hotel from now on, order from Room Service!"

After Mrs. Marvin stormed out of the theatre in a huff with her sons in tow, Kelly, now looking slightly dejected, went into the women's washroom for a moment to get the remaining popcorn out of her hair and get cleaned up. When she came back out, David, who had been waiting for her by the snack bar, asked her, "Are you okay, Kelly? I saw those two kids up in the balcony when you did, and what they did to you wasn't cool."

Kelly, relieved at David's understanding of the situation, nodded. "I will be," she said. "It's the third time I've had to deal with those two today between here and the hotel, and it just gets frustrating. Now I understand how some of my fellow staff feel about dealing with those kids and with their parents-or should I say, the 'Parents of the Year'," she added with a hint of sarcasm.

"I understand," David said, putting his hand reassuringly on Kelly's shoulder. "So, do you want to go back in and finish the movie?"

Giving it a moment of thought, Kelly let out a sigh and shook her head. "No. After what happened, those kids ruined the movie for me, so I'd rather not stick around here. But there's a restaurant close by," she suggested to David, "so do you want to get a bite to eat?"

"Sure, we can do that," David replied, drawing a smile from Kelly.

"If it'll help you feel better, Kelly," Kahuna added, "name a movie for me-any movie you like-and I'll try and get it for you to play here down the line."

Kelly did not hesitate to come up with a movie choice. "Make it _Insomniac in Indianapolis_," she responded, thinking of one of her favorite "chick flicks", "and you got a deal."

"Done," said Kahuna as Kelly and David walked out of the theatre, hand-in-hand. "See you back at the bus."

* * *

"...then we had to order new deck chairs for poolside at the hotel pool because all the old ones got thrown into a bonfire at the beach," Kelly said to David, who was laughing at a story she was telling him over a dessert of chocolate-covered strawberries at their table at a restaurant not far from the Big Wave Theatre, the same restaurant where Kelly and Bummer had gone on their ill-fated blind date. "And if you think the pool area getting TP'ed by the party guests was something, one guy decided to top that by driving the owner's daughter's Jeep into the pool!"

"Oh man, that's wild!" David replied, trying to catch his breath after all the laughter from Kelly's humorous story about the end-of-school bash thrown by Lo at the hotel. "The way you tell it, it makes me wish I could've been there."

"Oh, I've got lots of stories about what goes on around the hotel," Kelly said, then launching into what happened when Lo, whom she did not actually mention by name, was made to work at the hotel by her father as punishment for allowing her party to get out of control. As he continued laughing, David took another strawberry and popped it into his mouth, but the piece of fruit accidentally lodged in his windpipe in the middle of his laughter and he began to choke.

Seeing what was happening, Kelly became concerned. "David, are you okay?" she asked, getting up from her chair to check on him. "Can you try to cough?" When David was unable to do so on his own as he struggled to breathe, Kelly acted quickly by giving him some back slaps with the heel of her hand to try to dislodge the strawberry. On the third back slap, David managed to cough out the strawberry and, after coughing a bit more, started breathing normally again after Kelly offered him his glass of ginger ale, which he had ordered with dessert, to sip on. "Is that better?" Kelly asked as she rubbed David's back afterward. "You had me scared there for a minute."

"Yeah, I'm okay now," David said in response, his voice sounding slightly hoarse from the choking incident. "Thanks, Kelly. You just saved my bacon a moment ago."

"I'm glad I could help," Kelly said as she took her seat again. As they continued talking while munching on the strawberries, Kelly and David soon found themselves holding hands again, and they also began looking into each other's eyes as the restaurant's sound system, which had been playing romantic music from a satellite music channel, began playing a particular tune that resonated with Kelly at that very moment: **(AN: The song lyrics below are from "Alone Together", written by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz. I don't own the song, I just included it here to convey the feeling Kelly was experiencing in the moment.)**

_Alone together, beyond the crowd  
Above the world, we're not too proud  
To cling together, we're strong  
As long as we're together _

_Alone together, the blinding rain  
The starless night, were not in vain  
For we're together, and what is there  
To fear together _

_Our love is as deep as the sea  
Our love is as great as a love can be  
And we can weather the great unknown  
If we're alone together_

As the song played, Kelly began daydreaming about being at the beach with David on a beautiful sunny day, going swimming and jet skiing with him, teaming with him for a game of beach volleyball and, even though she did not surf in real life, going surfing with him in her daydream. A few minutes later, after the daydream, Kelly and David were down at the waterfront boardwalk, glancing at each other again in between staring at the full moon, the starlit night sky and the moon's reflection on the water.

* * *

The Whalebus pulled up at the Surfer's Paradise front entrance a few minutes after the evening trip into Sunset Beach ended and the Kahuna let out his passengers, including Kelly and David. "That's it dudes and dudettes, last stop tonight," Kahuna called as the passengers filed out. When Kelly and David filed their way to the door, Kahuna asked them, "Enjoy the rest of your date after the movie?"

"We sure did," David replied, "every minute of it."

"Right on," said Kahuna. "Catch you cool cats later."

"I had a great time on our date tonight," Kelly said to David as they walked through the doors into the hotel lobby, holding hands the whole way. "Well, except for what happened with the wasp, the flat tire on the bus, those kids and their popcorn at the movies and the choking incident at the restaurant afterward, but still."

"True," David said. "But I had a great time with you too, Kelly. I'm looking forward to going jet skiing with you tomorrow, and doing whatever else you'd like to do." Moving a little closer to Kelly, he added, "I never thought that I'd find myself going on a date with someone I'd just met hours earlier, but I'm glad that date was with you. You really made it special tonight."

Kelly, who rarely blushed, felt her cheeks flush for the second time tonight. She had had dates with other boys before, both while working at Surfer's Paradise and back in her hometown while attending high school, but the 18-year-old Kelly had never dated anyone like David up until tonight. She knew about the reputation she had for meanness with the younger staff members at the hotel, dating back to the seniors' initiation of the staff newcomers which she had led at the start of the hotel's summer season, but that aspect of her personality, as she came to realize, had not only been tempered, she rediscovered the nicer side of her personality, all thanks to being shown some kindness by David, who had been merely one of her customers at the Pirate Ship just hours before. What ended up surprising Kelly was that she actually liked how she was now feeling.

"_Awwww_, thank you," a touched Kelly said in reply to David's heartfelt words. As they stood in the lobby, the two gazed into each other's eyes a few more moments, then as they drew close, Kelly and David wrapped their arms around each other and shared a gentle kiss. The kiss lasted for about half a minute, but to Kelly, who blissfully had her eyes closed, it felt much longer. After the kiss ended, Kelly opened her eyes and remarked, "Wow, that was...amazing."

"I know what you mean," David said. "I liked that kiss too."

"So," Kelly said, still feeling in bliss from the kiss, "see you tomorrow, then? In the lobby again, around noon?"

"I'm looking forward to it," David replied. "I'll even bring my guitar along for our second date. I guess I didn't mention earlier that I play acoustic guitar, did I?"

"No, I guess not," Kelly said with a girlish giggle. "It's a date, then."

"Awesome," David said. After another small kiss, he then started walking slowly toward the lobby elevators, looking at Kelly the whole way there. "Good night, Kelly," he said to her as he stepped into an elevator.

"Good night, David," Kelly replied, blowing him a kiss as she watched the elevator doors close. Walking from the elevators toward the front desk afterward, Kelly, pleased with the success of her date, happily squealed to herself again as she put her hands over her heart. As she finished, something caught her eye and she looked down and noticed the bouquet of red roses she had received from David earlier, still in the vase Johnny had put them in.

"Hey, thought you might like to have this back," said Johnny, who was holding the vase with the bouquet before Kelly.

"Oh," Kelly said, caught by surprise for a second. "Thanks, Johnny." Looking at the bouquet again, she added, "If you're going off duty, you want to walk me back to the staff house so I can bring this back with me?"

"I'm heading there anyway to get ready for a little beach party with the gang, so sure, I can walk with you," Johnny said. As he and Kelly went through the doors to the hotel's pool area, which was a shortcut toward the staff house, he then asked, "So, how did your date go tonight?"

"Oh, it was the best date I've ever been on," Kelly said wistfully as she and Johnny continued walking. "Better yet, I've even got another date lined up for tomorrow. I never could've imagined that a work week that went so crappy for me would end on such a high note, but it did."

"Wow, sounds like he could be 'the one' for you then," Johnny remarked. "Gotta admit, since you went on your date with him, I've noticed you've been acting a lot nicer."

Kelly stopped in her tracks for a moment to look at Johnny. "Hold on a minute," she responded. "Since when have I not been nice?"

"It's just something I happened to notice," Johnny said. "Just saying, that's all."

"Hmm," Kelly remarked, raising an eyebrow at Johnny. "Shouldn't you be, like, chasing after Emma or something?"

"What?" said a surprised Johnny, who thought that only Reef and Broseph knew about his crush on Emma. "How do you know about that?"

"What, you think I haven't noticed?" Kelly retorted with a smirk. "I have eyes too, you know. I've _totally_ noticed you crushing on Surfer Girl."

"_Touché_," said Johnny, and both he and Kelly had a laugh over her revelation as they neared the staff house.

* * *

**So, after a rough start to the date and a few little misadventures along the way, Kelly gets her happy ending as her date with David ends on a high note. This is not the end yet though, as there's still one chapter left. Will Kelly's elevated mood and high spirits from the date last long afterward? Stay tuned and find out.**

**Thanks also to those of you who've reviewed this story so far. Keep up the input and tell me what you think of it.  
**


	5. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

The Pirate Ship was humming with activity again on the Monday morning after Kelly's dates with David, though things had settled back to a normal pace again for the restaurant's waitresses after the extra-busy week prior. Although David had returned to Victoria on Sunday, Kelly was still feeling quite good as she went about her rounds serving customers their breakfasts, something which did not escape the notice of Emma and Lo, who both figured that something seemed a little off about their boss that morning.

"Lo, have you noticed something a little strange about Kelly over the last couple or so days?" Emma asked her friend in between customer orders. "Seems almost like she hasn't been her usual nasty self lately."

"I know, right?" Lo said in response. "Since Friday afternoon when she served that handsome guy she steered me away from, it's like she's actually been in a pleasant mood the whole weekend. I saw her with that same guy over at the pool on Saturday as I came over from the staff house and I was expecting her to make some snide remark to me or insult me as I passed by, but instead she waved to me, said hi and asked how I was doing. Kelly actually being _nice_ to me? Wow, Em, that moment was _sooo_ Twilight Zone."

"And since we came in to work this morning, Kelly's still been in a good mood," Emma added. "Over the last half-hour, I've been hearing her singing to herself in between taking customer orders. That's something I've _never_ heard her do since we started working here, and I think there's only one explanation for that."

"Maybe Kelly got replaced by a body snatcher?" Lo said jokingly, sending her and Emma into a fit of giggling.

"That would explain a lot," said Emma in between giggles, "but really, no..."

The girls' laughing spell came to a quick end, though, the moment Kelly stepped in front of them, with a stern look on her face as she crossed her arms. "Okay, you two, what's up with all the laughter?" Kelly said to the now-silent Lo and Emma. "There better be a good reason why you're not out serving the customers right now."

"Ah, well," Emma began, pausing a moment to clear her throat. "Uh, the thing is..."

"We've been wondering what's up with you since last Friday," Lo cut in, coming to Emma's rescue as her friend stumbled on her words. "Right up to now, we've seen you acting all super-nice around us and everything, and we thought that couldn't be right 'cause you're usually never nice to us."

"So?" Kelly said curtly. "What does my being nice the last few days have to do with anything? Am I not allowed to be in a pleasant mood when I feel like it?"

"We think it's because of that guy you were serving on Friday afternoon, the same guy you went on a date with later that night _and_ who we saw you out with all Saturday," Emma joined in. "Johnny told us all about seeing you and that guy together, planning to go on a night on the town in Sunset Beach."

_Note to self: Kill Johnny later for spilling my secret,_ Kelly thought to herself. Letting out a sigh of resignation, Kelly forced herself to admit the truth about the reason behind her change in demeanor now that the girls knew about her and David. "Okay, I admit it, the new guy I saw last weekend was the reason I've been acting, well...different lately," she said.

"_Ooooohh,_ tell us more," said an eager Lo, always one to enjoy hearing gossip.

Kelly then told Lo and Emma about the events of her date with David on Friday night, then went into what they did on Saturday. "We started out swimming at the pool, which was where you saw us when you came from the staff house," she told Lo. "Then we rented bikes and rode into Sunset Beach for the day so we could go jet skiing around the pier and along the waterfront, then we joined in on a game of beach volleyball. After that, we got dinner at a sidewalk café, then we rode back to the hotel and returned to the pool, where David serenaded me at poolside with some romantic songs he played on his acoustic guitar, then we finished with a romantic moonlit stroll on the beach near the hotel."

"_Awwwww!_" Lo and Emma said together, melting at hearing the romantic details of Kelly's second date with David. "So, was there any hand-holding and kissing on this date too?" a curious Lo then asked.

"Of course," Kelly said. "Every chance we could get." After more girlish squealing from Emma and Lo, Kelly continued with what happened on Sunday. "David had to go back to Victoria because he's interning at his dad's business right now, but I saw him off at the seaplane terminal outside town and we exchanged photos, phone numbers and e-mail addresses so we can stay in touch, then we had another kiss before he got on the plane. He even told me he wants to come back to see me again soon, and he's going to make time in his schedule for it."

Emma and Lo then let out a blissful sigh together, after which Emma said, "That sounds _sooo_ romantic, Kelly. I'm glad he's making a difference with you, and we're really happy for you for it."

"Thanks," Kelly said with a smile. Suddenly turning serious again, she then pointed at Emma and Lo as she gave them a warning. "But if you say anything about this to anyone else," she said, turning to Emma, "you, Surfer Girl, are gonna get a big, fat strike on your record. And for you, Duchess," she continued, then fixing her gaze on Lo, "I'll be making a phone call to Daddy Dearest about your performance in the dining room."

Lo and Emma's eyes went wide with shock as they gasped and tensed up on hearing Kelly's comments. "You wouldn't!" a horrified Lo said, sounding concerned as she feared that a call to her father from Kelly would result in one of her privileges being taken away by him, as he had threatened Lo with doing when he sent her to work under Kelly.

Just then, Kelly's grim expression softened and she began to laugh a little, warming up and lightening up again. "No, I'm only kidding," she said as she moved between Emma and Lo and draped her arms over the girls' shoulders. "I'm not going to do that to you two, so you can chillax." Pulling the two girls a little closer so she could talk to them quietly, Kelly then added, "Seriously though, not a word about this to anyone else, okay? I've got a rep to maintain and I don't want anyone else thinking I've gone soft."

"Girl Guide's honor," Emma said, raising her right hand in swearing to keep Kelly's secret, while Lo nodded in affirmation as well as she said "It's in the vault."

"Perfect," Kelly said, smiling again. "Carry on, girls." She then strolled away to return to work, happily singing to herself again.

After hearing Kelly explain the reason for her change of moods, Lo looked to Emma with a puzzled expression. Emma simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "Hey, might as well enjoy it. She may be a little different attitude-wise, but at least we won't have to worry about getting yelled at as much by her anymore."

"Good point," Lo said with a giggle as the two girls then went back to work themselves.

**THE END**

**

* * *

**

**So, there you all have it. I enjoyed seeing what could be accomplished by giving Kelly a little personality makeover (via her first meeting with David at the Pirate Ship, when she needed to make a good impression with him and then carried that over to her dates with him) and showing her vulnerable side (when she breaks down and cries in Chapter 1), as yet unseen on the show. Of course, as shown in the epilogue, Kelly won't lose her edge completely in my future _Stoked_ fanfics, it'll just be redirected and come out when warranted, otherwise she will be presented as nicer, thanks to David's influence. It's also a safe bet that Kelly and David will become a steady couple in future stories of mine, albeit in a long-distance relationship for now.**

**As always, reviews are welcome.  
**


End file.
